Fall 2011 Public Affairs Programming in Review

We have just completed one of the most successful semesters of public affairs programming in the Goldfarb Center’s brief history. Of course each and every semester has brought new and exciting speakers and panels to the campus, but in terms of student attendance and prominence of speakers, this one was hard to top.

Maybe the best measure of that success is our inability to point to one or two highlights. We had talks by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine Leigh Saufley and a somewhat controversial talk by Maine’s Governor Paul LePage. We hosted a debate among the three candidates for mayor of Waterville, including Karen Heck ’74, our city’s incoming leader. Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR’s amazing Middle East correspondent, received the 2011 Lovejoy Award and spent three days with our students. The 2010 Brody Award winner, Nancy Gertner, now retired from the U.S. District Court and teaching at Harvard Law School, returned to campus to discuss the Supreme Court’s failure to live up to its promises on civil rights. We cosponsored two programs with a new student group, Students for Educational Reform, one featuring the last two Maine Teachers of the Year and one featuring Colby alumna Maria Fenwick ’03, now executive director of Teach Plus in Boston. Speaking of alumni, Bob Diamond ’73, Eric Rosengren ’79, and Tom Riley ’79 spoke to a packed house in Ostrove Auditorium on the state of the U.S. economy. And Peter Hart ’64 spoke on the prospects for the 2012 election to a terrific gathering in at the UMass Club in Boston, hosted by our Boston Liaison Committee (with great help from UBS, thanks to Kevin Thurston ’98). We also hosted a William and Linda Cotter Debate on Foreign Aid and the Environment and a fabulous one-day conference on Chemicals, Obesity, and Diabetes.

These events drew large student audiences — with some students attending most of our events and others sampling from the wide array of programs we offered. Community members were important parts of the audience on many evenings — and their questions often expanded our students’ horizons.

During November the Colby Volunteer Center (CVC) organized a series of events as part of its Homelessness Awareness Month initiative and set a goal of raising $10,000 for the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter’s “Rebuilding Lives Campaign.” We are thrilled to report that the CVC surpassed its goal by raising $15,890 with donations still being accepted.

The student-led CVC partnered with a number of on- and off-campus organizations to reach the goal, including local businesses Black Dog Graphics in Clinton and Are You Ready to Party? in Waterville, which sponsored T-shirts sold on campus as part of the fundraiser. Concert proceeds, Senior Bar Night events, a Reduce Dorm Damage matching campaign, and other creative strategies all contributed to this hugely successful fundraising effort.

CVC Director Dana Roberts, a senior from Greenwich, Conn., says “about four hundred individuals donated to the campaign and ninety percent of the donations were twenty-five dollars or less. This clearly illustrates how important small donations were to the success of the campaign and that the collective action of many can make a significant impact.”

Contributions can still to be made either online at www.wepay.com/donate/breakingground or by check to the “Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter” with “Colby Campaign” in the memo line mailed to: CVC at Colby College, 4150 Mayflower Hill, Waterville, ME 04901.

Grants Awarded to 13 Faculty Members and Students for Research, Internships, and Mealtime Seminars

We are pleased to announce that the following projects were approved by the Goldfarb Center steering committee in the most recent review for grant funding. The next deadline for submission proposals for funding will be Monday, March 5, 2012.

Faculty Sponsored Visiting Fellow Grant

Professor of History Paul Josephson
“Historical and Environmental Aspects of Resource Development Policy for the 21st Century”
Visiting Fellows: Prof. Michael Robinson (University of Hartford) and Prof. John McCannon (Southern New Hampshire University)

Mealtime Seminar Grant

CCAK Mentees Wish Bon Voyage to Their Junior Mentors

Each year hundreds of Colby juniors, many of whom are mentors in the Colby Cares About Kids (CCAK) program, study abroad around the world. As this semester drew to a close, more than 35 local schoolchildren came to campus for a send-off party with mentors in their junior year, who will depart in the coming weeks for the spring semester. The gathering focused on how to keep the connection between mentor and mentee even with the miles separating them. Although they will be abroad next semester, the mentors will remain in touch with their mentees through postcards, e-mail, Skype, and sending pictures holding “Flat Stanley” versions of their mentees in foreign locations. While these mentors depart, many others will be eagerly welcomed back from the fall semester abroad and once again into the daily lives of their mentees.

Save The Date: Spring 2012 Highlights

As the fall semester comes to a close, we are already looking ahead to an exciting series of programs for the spring. Please follow our calendar as it evolves, come to events if you can, or join us by listening to the podcasts which can be found on our homepage at www.colby.edu/goldfarb. Here is just a sample of our spring 2012 events:

Between Truth & Error

In 2018, the Goldfarb Center will launch a new digital forum aimed at providing the greater Colby community with timely observations, ideas, and insight on matters of public importance. Click the button below to subscribe.